Escape this Christmas at sea with CMV

Escape the cooking, washing up and expensive Christmas shopping this Christmas, Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) announced that the last few cabins are available on the Christmas and New Year cruise to Cape Verde, Madeira & the Canaries with fares from £1449pp or £2009pp for a twin Ocean View cabin.

Magellan sails from London Tilbury on 17 December to Amsterdam, Vigo (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Cape Verde, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Madeira, Leixoes (Portugal) for 21-nights.

With the average cost of a UK Christmas being in the region of £800 per person it is easy to see the advantages of escaping the weather, cooking, washing-up and expensive present shopping by spending a leisurely Christmas at sea. CMV offers a unique home from home, country-house style of cruising with smaller to medium-sized cruise ships which creates the intimate atmosphere of a house-party at sea, ideal for a relaxed and sociable Christmas without any of the hard work involved hosting Christmas at home.

Highlights of the Christmas and New Year Cape Verde, Madeira & Canaries cruise include sailing south to the warmer temperatures, calling at six contrasting islands, three historic cities and a relaxing Christmas Day spent at sea. Renowned for its seafood, the Spanish city of Vigo has an appealing old town with a labyrinth of steep and winding narrow streets and shaded squares. In Lisbon passengers can take an optional excursion to explore the city’s famous sights. Christmas Day will be a relaxing day spent at sea with no cooking and washing-up as this will all be taken care of by Magellan’s expert chefs and CMV’s attentive staff will serve the Christmas Dinner. On Boxing Day Magellan will call at Mindelo, Cape Verde’s answer to the Riviera, passengers can explore the cobblestone streets, candy-coloured colonial buildings and yachts bobbing in a peaceful harbour or take an exciting 4×4 adventure tour (only suitable for passengers who don’t mind a bumpy ride!). Then it is on to Praia Santiago (Cape Verde).

From Cape Verde Magellan sails to the Canary Islands calling first at Tenerife, dominated by Mount Teide, Spain’s highest mountain, together with several spectacular valleys, banana plantations and pinewoods. Calling at Gran Canaria and Lanzarote there are opportunities for passengers to explore volcanic craters and the lunar-like landscape of the islands. The final port of call in the Canary Islands will be Madeira where passengers can take an optional tour to have afternoon tea at the fabulous Reid’s Hotel overlooking the bay of Funchal. En-route back to London Tilbury Magellan will call at Leixoes (Portugal) for passengers to explore Oporto, Portugal’s second largest city, and sample it’s appropriately seasonal famous port.

The fare quoted is based on two people sharing a standard plus twin inner cabin or £2009pp for a twin Ocean View cabin and includes delicious full board cuisine, afternoon teas and late-night snacks, Captain’s Cocktail Party, complimentary tea & coffee 6am to midnight, big show entertainment, cabarets and classical interludes, daytime activities and leisure facilities, guest speaker and arts & crafts, porterage of luggage, port to cabin and port taxes. For greater convenience CMV operate an automatic tipping system on board, so instead of worrying how much and when to tip, an amount of £4pp per night will be debited to the passenger’s on-board account.